An empire built on lies
This is quite extraordinary:
Because what it amounts to is “Oh, if I have to tell the truth then I’m not coming”.
We had to read it carefully several times to check it really said what we thought it said. But it does. It says that Murrell is now “reluctant” to appear because the committee is trying to find out if he’s lying to them or not. How very DARE they?
Craig Murray must be kicking himself that he didn’t think of simply declining to appear at his trial, due to start tomorrrow – in which he’s accused not of lying but of telling the truth, and faces possible imprisonment as a result.
Indeed, this seems like a reckless missed opportunity on the part of ANYONE accused of ANY crime at any point in history. Who knew that not turning up to be questioned was an option? Could have saved Derek Bentley a lot of unpleasantness for a start.
Officially, committees of the Scottish Parliament have the power to compel witnesses to attend, on pain of committing a criminal offence, though what steps they can take to enforce that theoretical power and what the penalties are for non-compliance aren’t specified. Maybe it’s time someone found out.
Our attention was drawn to something else today too.
The interesting detail had to be pointed out to us, because we missed it first time:
It’s interesting because of this:
Every member of the SNP gets a vote in Leader/Depute Leader elections, and unlike Scottish Labour nobody gets multiple votes through being in trade unions or whatever. But just two months before that October 2016 vote the SNP was claiming to have 120,000 members.
So why did it only send out 103,000 ballot papers?
(After the election the party released the total number of votes cast, but not the turnout figure, and now we can see why.)
This site has regularly challenged Scottish Labour’s dubious claims about membership numbers. We don’t see why the SNP shouldn’t be held to the same standard. The party currently claims to have 126,000 members, but figures buried deep in its 2019 accounts suggest that the true number is only actually 87,000.
We’d hoped that the culture of lies in the current SNP was a recent development, one brought about by the need to tell more and more untruths in an attempt to cover up its crazily-snowballing attempts to discredit and imprison its former leader. It’s starting to look like it’s been going on a lot longer than we feared.
Here is the details for Craig Murray’s trial:
High Court of Justiciary
Case: Petition and Complaint – the Lord Advocate v Craig Murray
Date: Wednesday, 27 January 2021
Time: 10.30am
Dial (United Kingdom toll): +44-20-7660-8149 (020 7660 8149)
Access code: 174 658 1827
https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/coming-to-court/access-to-virtual-hearings
Please be aware this is charged as a normal call to London, so check your call plan / free minutes.
Hey, what’s 16,700 members between friends?
Where is that uppermost excerpt from? – you don’t make it clear.
“Where is that uppermost excerpt from? – you don’t make it clear.”
ALWAYS. CLICK. THE. PICTURE.
I just learned that Alex has agreed to attend the Fabiani Inquiry on 8th February or during that week. He was complaining again that everyone else was having their legal costs, met but that he wasn’t.
From this, it appears that the husband of the First Minister is having his legal costs met too and, not only that, he is seeking to have them work on his behalf to evade the proper scrutiny of the Inquiry.
This Inquiry does give the appearance to the outsider that it is discriminating against someone who has already endured a trial and has been found ‘not guilty’ and it is instead pandering to the last mongrels of a rotten political empire.
I’m sure I have got this wrong somehow.
AUOB make ridiculous claims about numbers that turn out for their marches, the Tartan Army makes ridiculous claims about their turnouts (when they had them) and now the SNP making ridiculous claims about their membership numbers.
It’s just a Scottish thing. Make it up and hope you’re not found out.
@Dave it’s from The Herald, clicking it takes you to the Archive.vn copy of it.
Lies are like Pringles.
Once you pop…
I wonder who is paying for the legal advice Mr Murrell is reported to be receiving. Would other members be annoyed if the money was coming from party funds? I know this one would.
Wonder if the rest of them, Evans in particular, will be investigated on suspicion of perjuring themselves ????
I mean a clarification is one thing. Changing your fuckin mind is quite another.
Hiya Jeremiah
Anything positive to say, ever?
By virtually refusing to attend the inquiry Murrell is showing his guilt, I think he’ll resign before he attends, if there’s no other escape route in place.
Also on the sheet showing the membership numbers why is there only a 33.9% turnout.
@Republicofscotland – lying under oath is as serious as it gets and he’s already, allegedly, done that. Hence, Mr Murrell may be fecked already.
It’s like when you know you’ve done badly in your Maths exam, refusing to attend school again so that no-one can tell you your result.
Bright folk don’t do that. In my experience, only right dummies do that.
The membership increased significantly after the IndyRef in September 2014.
Could it be the drop between July and (mid)October 2016 coincided with many of the folks that joined in September / early October 2014 letting their memberships lapse after paying for a couple of years and not bothering to renew again.
That might just account for a lot dropping off at that particular time.
Mist001 @8.28pm.
Your ridiculous claims top them all I think.
Mist001
Go fuck yourself, you bitter old Unionist!
Didv they actually count all the votes. I voted Tkmmy Shepherd myself.
I remember the papers said Robertson won with over 50 odd percent which considering the number that actually voted was not much at all…You see, once you lose trust you question everything
Mist001 “It’s just a Scottish thing”
You’re literally saying Scottish people are a bunch of liars?
Maybe there’s a UK or Scottish equivalent of the US Fifth amendment.
Well that’s a little too convenient…
Murrell can now claim to have been advised to ‘Take the 5th’ pending possible action on the part of the COPFS.
However, if the COPFS eventually decide, after several months, that it’s not in the “public interest” to do anything about him, the enquiry will already have been concluded.
Thereafter, O J Murrell is off the hook!
Why not wait until the committee was finished its deliberations before involving the COPFS?
I’d like to think they’re not yet finished paying out the rope with which the leadership will hang themselves – never interrupt your enemy when they’re making a mistake etc.
But then again…
I remember that vote while I was a member of the SNP , I missed it and so did family members Missed it because we were never sent ballot papers by post or e/mail or online , I complained to Tommy Sheppard and after a few weeks got a ” oh that’s life reply ” that was the full explanation , I wonder how many other people had the same experience or was it all fixed beforehand ? .
With this current lot who knows if it was a forgone conclusion silly me used to trust them , No Laughing now I wasn’t the only one that they fooled it might just come back and bite them on the arse when I am asked for my Vote , I have a long memory Nicola tread carefully.
@robertknight – are you saying the Peter Murrell is the Scottish version of OJ Simpson?……God help us.
Re the voting numbers, why not a breakdown of the numbers each contender got, rather than just no, yes, no, no.
And 33% seems very very low. What was that Jo Stalin quote again, its not who votes that count, its who counts the votes…
He’s from the Prince Andy Windsor School of Evasion. Windsor’s not speaking to the FBI because they’ve “made it impossible” apparently.
And given Robertson the Odius is mixed up in this whole sordid saga, then theres no reason to believe that this was not an early foray to establish himself as the anointed one, courtesy of the SNP HQ.
Politicians never lie do they? And governments are never corrupt, and they never look out solely for number 1. Well, not until the current SNP government came along of course …
… this same SNP who don’t want independence because that would ruin the good thing they have going right now.
Imagine independence coming along and ruining your reason to exist, and extinguishing your income source …
Maybe I should rejoin the party, It looks like there might be a leadership vote shortly.
I left the SNP in disgust some time back. Those of you still remaining who are angry at Murrell should phone SNP HQ and tell them straight that you’ll cancel your membership unless he reappears at the inquiry.
Mist001.My brother, his wife and daughter always came up from essex for the glasgow Auob marches, did you ever come over from france ya fanny.
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Here’s a thought. Has there been any high profile individuals who have refused to attend a summons to a Westminster Committee without good reason?
What’s that saying about the ducks lining up?
Stuart, if you don’t mind me asking, when did you first suspect/know things within the SNP were going awry?
Was there a specific event that triggered your increased scrutiny of them?
@Mist001 says:
26 January, 2021 at 8:28 pm
Organisers of any march – and by that I mean any – always, always inflate the numbers, and the authorities always suppress the numbers. It’s the same the world over and not unique to Scotland by a long shot. And it has been happening for decades.
Saying that, no one has come even close to over-estimation that Trump.
Angus Robertson was always going to be sturgeons choice for deputy leader, the Murrell’s and the Roberston’s are the best of friends and it’s obvious this clique is intent on looking out for each other.
If Murrell refuses to attend the enquiry again the Alex Salmond should do the same and announce publicly that his reason for not doing so is simply because the whole thing is a sham.
Reports of Murrell dressed as a female see sitting in
a rowing boat heading for Skye.
He was testing his eyesight in a car with Dominic Cummings in
County Durham when these WhatsApp messages were sent!
Don’t worry Peter the Members have found the only lawyers
in Scotland that they are not already paying for on your behalf.
Is this perjury claim going to go anywhere Stu?
To me, it looks like a bit of showmanship to create a headline. Nothing more.
Beaker @9:13
In 2011 Rupert Murdoch and son James initially declined to appear before a Commons committee that was looking into the phone-hacking scandal. The committee issued summonses and the Murdochs agreed to, and did, appear.
Good Grief.
.
.
Could the new NEC please do something about peter murrell ?
Captain Y…
I think we may be beyond the point where even the Almighty can be of assistance.
Wasn’t Dante’s 1st Circle of Hell “Limbo”?
Pretty well feels like where we are at the moment.
If Murrell actually refuses outright to reappear, and the inquiry fails to issue a summons, then that would justify Billy Connolly’s famous jibe about Holyrood being a wee pretendy parliament.
” Robert graham says:
26 January, 2021 at 8:52 pm
I remember that vote while I was a member of the SNP , I missed it and so did family members Missed it because we were never sent ballot papers by post or e/mail or online ,”
I started a post saying the same, thought better of it, and deleted, but now I see this, I wonder.
I was a member till last year, and while I remember the Mi-Voice voting emails, I don’t remember that one.
Hi Mist001 says at 8:28 pm.
You typed,
“AUOB make ridiculous claims about numbers that turn out for their marches…”
Have a look at this pic. It’s an aerial view over Edinburgh, during the AUOB march in October 2019.
As you can see(?), there is a continuous parade of blue flags from Holyrood Park to The Meadows, right up the Royal Mile.
I don’t think the estimates of 200,000+ were far off the mark.
https://i.imgur.com/rIC9SEI.jpg
“It’s starting to look like it’s been going on a lot longer than we feared”.
Yes it has. As has been mentioned on numerous occasions, the enemies of Scottish independence have been hard at work Inside the SNP Scottish government.
Most notably since sturgeon took over as FM / snp leader
Do I hear the ripping sound of material as another piece of finance is unwoven from the referendum fund to pay more lawyers for Peter? Come on Mr new treasurer let us all know.
Mist001.
Fuck off fud!
“Brian Doonthetoon says:
26 January, 2021 at 9:37 pm
Hi Mist001 says at 8:28 pm.
You typed,
“AUOB make ridiculous claims about numbers that turn out for their marches…”
Have a look at this pic. It’s an aerial view over Edinburgh, during the AUOB march in October 2019.”
I was right at the tail end. It took 2 full hours before we started walking, at about 10 abreast.
Beaker @9.13pm Cummings was literally in contempt of Parliament and simply refused to turn up to be questioned by one all party committee.
John H mentions joining to get a vote if there’s a leadership election soon. Anyone else thinking along those lines?
“In a separate article for The Scotsman Professor Weller said it “will not be possible” for the UK government “to deny a referendum indefinitely”.
He also raised the prospect of international courts getting involved in any dispute, adding that Scotland’s right to leave the UK was “established informally in UK constitutional practice” after the 2014 referendum.”
That’s from,
https://archive.is/6z30Q
Just going to watch a wee bit a a Billy
They’re resorting to lawyers so much that Bute House should be renamed Bleak House.
A bit of good news – Andy Wightmas has said on twitter he might run as an independent in May.
He’s a good politician. An asset.
I was a member at.the time. Me and others had all voted for Tommy and were somewhat surprised at the result. Less surprised now though.
Re membership numbers and renewals. The biggest increase in numbers came after September 2014.
I joined in October, and every year I was a wee bit late in renewing it. What is interesting to note however, is I was not removed from the membership data base.
So late renewal is not the reason for the apparent low membership numbers.
The party is probably still counting people who have left by simply not paying their dues as members. I expect a goodly number of our ISP members are currently counted as SNP members.
After the farce of comments, from members who had paid £6 each to join, were turned off at the National Convention turning it into yet another stage managed rubber stamp exercise instead of the discussion promised there must be a lot of disheartened activists out there. The sort who would turn up to that are the sort who would chip in their efforts in an election campaign.
It would seem the leadership don’t want their membership motivated to do anything. In the 2016 GE 500,000 SNP voters sat on their hands and did not vote. At this rate the ISP will needed just to ensure there’s a Yes majority at Holyrood.
@kapelmeister – they’re not real lawyers…they’re spoof merchants…gangsters…hire to protect the Mob. I spoke earlier of Tom Hagan in ‘The Godfather’. Remember him? He was Vito Corleone’s ‘Consigliere’. That’s what we have in Scotland nowadays.
As far as I understand it , people who give evidence at the inquiry are covered by Parliamentary Privilege so if they lie on oath – are they punished by the people they have lied to inside the inquiry but cannot be punished outside of the inquiry? I suppose then someone would have to raise a separate enquiry and send it the police to ask them if there was evidence that Murrell conspired against Mr Salmond – what’s the betting on the outcome of that one:-)
I posted this on a previous thread but I thought it might be worth posting it again re Peter Murrell and others who have already given evidence to the Committee ,
.
An interesting tweet from Joanna Cherry ,
“ Don’t often agree with the author of this article but he’s right that if any witness is found to have lied on oath to the Holyrood Inquiry it would be a very serious matter indeed. Probity in public life transcends party politics “
https://twitter.com/joannaccherry/status/1353661952795561984?s=20
And it’s about this article in the Scotsman from Brian Wilson re the Harassment and Complaints Committee ,
“ Why any witnesses who lie to MSPs’ inquiry should be worried “
“ By common consent, the Holyrood committee investigating the doomed defence of an action raised by Alex Salmond has gone beyond the stage of farce. “
“ Humiliating for the appointed MSPs, contemptuous of Parliament and ruthlessly obstructed by forces central to the investigation, this process must now be rescued by higher authority – the courts if necessary. “
https://archive.vn/cJwBd
https://archive.vn/cJwBd
I know it’s from Brian Wilson but as Joanna Cherry said we don’t always agree with him but this hopefully has serious consequences for the witnesses that have lied or had to change their evidence to the Committee .
https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/24416.aspx
5.15. If a person were to be required to attend or produce documents, he or she would be notified in writing by the clerk. A person who, without reasonable excuse, did not comply with such a requirement could be prosecuted for a criminal offence.
5.16. Although committees have this power of compulsion, it has not to date been used and in practice witnesses attend in response to an invitation from the committee.
By the looks of it, the voter discrepancy was due to eligibility. You had to be a member at opening of nominations and be fully paid up.
https://www.snp.org/depute-leadership-contest-result/
Don’t look at anything the Scotsman’s propaganda pushers print.
If Jesus of Nazareth supported independence they would do
better than crucify him.
They lose money hand over fist as a few fascist unionist types need a daily dose of poison.
Best thing Nicola could do is blame Evans and the uk civil service for trying to convict an enemy of the uk state. We could all get behind that witch hunt.
Just checked out for Indy Twitter account, they have kept the offending tweet in place, but now refer it to ‘an SNP MP’ and have removed JCs name.
They are still maintaining any expressed support of Sarah Phillman amounts to support for transphobia and anti semitism.
Sarah is a lawyer in England, with a specialism in child protection/family law. She is also a member of Fair Cop having been put on the police register for hate incidents, namely tweets. These can be read in full on Fair Cop website. She has/is taking legal action regarding this.
I’ve had a look, I don’t see anything hateful or anti Semitic in them. Scary times with the thought police state.
As for out for Indy, their Twitter site heading show them to be fully affiliated part of the snp. I struggle to see how putting out a defamatory tweet against a named mp, is rectified, by putting out the same tweet hours later, but only removing the name of the mp, and referring to them as an snp mp.
Whether this is right or wrong legally, it is most certainly not the correct way to deal with a perceived wrong doing my a fellow party member.
If the tweet is indeed defamatory, I would suggest the party and the individual who authored and sent it are all responsible. Talk about bringing the snp into disrepute.
I do hope that the snp have a social media policy that ensures the individuals tweeting are solely liable for any legal damages they may incur. There does not appear to be much in the kitty to support further legal pay outs… and I suspect what remains has been earmarked for urgent use by a certain mr murrell.
Has the new nec managed to find out if his legal fees are being covered by the membership by the way?
And has Mr Smith provided a refund for the amounts he incurred by slandering the brexit party?
The Sometime Never Party is going to go bankrupt at the rate.
@ Daisy Walker: “the Sometime Never Party..”
Very good!! 🙂 Though the Sturgeon Nasty Party has a ring to it..
The shoogly peg of SNP must not be made into a shoogly peg for Independence though. I think that’s what the Yoons are banking on and why they’re letting Sturgeon hang herself. I think that if we look weak enough then the Yoons may say yes to a referendum if the vote is right. A tactic or two and we could be home and dry
“Colin West says:
26 January, 2021 at 10:22 pm
By the looks of it, the voter discrepancy was due to eligibility. You had to be a member at opening of nominations and be fully paid up.
https://www.snp.org/depute-leadership-contest-result/”
Good call.
Sarah
If you ever want blocked on Twitter by Cozy Feet Pete, just use “Sturgeon’s Nasty Party”.
Worked for me!
@ Robert graham at 8:52 pm
A similar type of thing happened to me, what I believe happened was I got locked out of the site I needed , and had to use an alternative, which was I believe a mirror type site( I don’t think I was alone on this)
“We’d hoped that the culture of lies in the current SNP was a recent development, one brought about by the need to tell more and more untruths in an attempt to cover up its crazily-snowballing attempts to discredit and imprison its former leader. It’s starting to look like it’s been going on a lot longer than we feared.”
Surely now is the time to reach out to “NO” voters-of which I was one.
And extend the hand of reconciliation.
There was a great deal of agitation in 2014 and many NO voters would not trust the SNP with their country.
No matter how many arguments were won by the YES side and regardless of Alan Cummings.
No voters felt instinctive unease with the whole proposition.
An unease that has now been vindicated thanks to the assiduous work of the Rev exposing the mendicants at the helm of the party.
@ robertknight: excellent.
Sturgeon Nasty Party is the magic exit word. Mustn’t forget it – better write it in large letters somewhere I can’t lose it. Bute House door?
You’ve really been doing a power of work Stuart, especially with your last few articles, for which we have an awful lot to thank you for.
As regards the odious Murrells it may just be their arrogance that will be their downfall. I don’t think they realised that they could be ensnared in their own trap by irrespectively lying to the Inquiry and to Parliament. If you set a trap for someone you best be careful you don’t get caught up in it yourself, but in trying to deny his involvement, Peter Murrell’s lies instead reveal his prior knowledge.
I think the same will also be true for his partner in crime.
George Galloway, on Twitter, has a wee video rant about the bbc promoting woke agenda, 99 types of gender. 50,000 viewers in about 4 hrs…
Looks like he’s found his way back into public forum, and dare I say it, much as I think he’s an attention seeking spin, I cannot take away from him his oratory ability and his nack of calling a spade a shovel when others are too afraid to do so.
Looks as if the woke agenda is about to become high profile vote loser the Rev predicted… just when Indy polls are at their highest.
If only we were warned…. oh, wait….
@Daisy
Back in the heady days of referendum time, I remember his gorgeousness the george getting a two page spread in the old machester guardian.
A publication which had little time for him before.
A sinking ship finds uncommon unions.
If you want a
niggertransomething for a neighbour, votelabourSNP.I can see that working with the geriatrics I know.
Anyway fun’s over
Supreme Courts Hearing Access
High Court of Justiciary
Case: Petition and Complaint – the Lord Advocate v Craig Murray
Date: Wednesday, 27 January 2021
Time: 10.30am
Dial (United Kingdom toll): +44-20-7660-8149
Access code: 174 658 1827
Let us flap our wings over the telephone!
Maybe wave rather than flap.
It’s late an I perhaps am not at my best.
Is it just me, or does Peter Murrell, from that photay and others, look like a total nutcase?
Going to be interesting at tomorrow’s broadcast. Wonder if anyone will ask about Kenny Macaskill’s relocations.
Probably blown out of proportion, and apparently it is essential travel, but that fucks the argument when it comes to complaining about Boris travelling up here.
How many bullets can the Murrell’s continue to dodge?
Surely their names are on at least one bullet each?
No one can be this lucky for so long, not even the Murrells.
crisiscult says:
John H mentions joining to get a vote if there’s a leadership election soon. Anyone else thinking along those lines?
I think it could be a good idea, if folk can stomach it. I’m hanging by a thread and so made my protest by reducing my membership fee each month to the minimum £1. I suggest others do the same to register their disgust while maintaining their voting rights
@ Daisy Walker
If you’re still reading – you asked me a question yesterday on a previous thread, and I did answer it a few hours later, but things had moved on and you may not have seen it:
https://wingsoverscotland.com/the-rock-in-the-hard-place/#comment-2602710
Checks notes says:
27 January, 2021 at 1:20 am
crisiscult says:
John H mentions joining to get a vote if there’s a leadership election soon. Anyone else thinking along those lines?
I think it could be a good idea, if folk can stomach it. I’m hanging by a thread and so made my protest by reducing my membership fee each month to the minimum £1. I suggest others do the same to register their disgust while maintaining their voting rights
That is probably the biggest bunch of bullshit I have ever seen on this site(and i remember cbrodie).
Who would be organising such a vote?
Maybe the john swinney mk2(let us forget MK1) faction,maybe the Smithies(who have the correct mindset to ignore others).
The people who wail about division are comfortably self isolated from its causes and consequences.
But their needs must, for some unfathonable reason.
Just a typo problem:
But their needs must,for some unfathomable reason.
YOUR LIFE AND EVERYONE CLOSE TO YOU MAY DEPEND ON YOU WATCHING THIS VIDEO.
What they dont want you to know. Hear it from the Doctor.
https://www.americasfrontlinedoctors.com/the-stand-the-truth-about-the-covid-19-vaccine.html#fl-main-content
Pass it on to as many people as possible.
You may have to click on the link at the top left which says “skip to content”
Thanks, kangaroo. We are all grateful.
Is it just HydroxychloroQuine you are recommending or should we inject disinfectant too?
.
Kangaroo,
There are enough problems in Scotland without you importing lethal Trumpkican conspiracy theories from America, land of the Orange Wig Wearing Liar in Chief.
As for your websites founder, Dr Simone Gold? He/she/it has been roundly condemned…
https://tinyurl.com/y5a68cde
Now off you toddle and buy some toilet bleach like your TWAT of a fuckwit ex-President Trumpet said, but do NOT inject it into you. Try cleaning the bog out.
TWAT.
Please fuckity fuck off.
Thanks Kangaroo I thought the my medicine has started to wear off sect were not turning up tonight .I love dipping in and out of Wings on the night shift and the threads keep on drifting .No sign yet of my fav club the of MI5 are issuing jimmy wigs and have emptied Thames house infiltrating both the SNP scot gov and the civil services causing NS to do evil things against her will ,it must be true Tam at the hat and ribbon told me
P.S before I get put on the list for letting slip my MI5 credentials by knowing what MI5 HQ in London was called I googled
Why do they always say vaccines make you infertile? It’s weird. I’ve seen them do that at least 7 or 8 times in the last few years.
99% of these crackpots never live to get near a womb and they run around worrying about infertility…
Murrell at his first appearance looked smug and waterproof and even confident of the answers he gave, which we found out were placed in his mouth as part of the 50K coaching sesh. BTW, I hope the SNP are claiming back some of that money as all it seemed to produce was collective amnesia.
The slimey rat has now a nervous twitch aboot his sphincter which hopefully means that he cant avoid further interrogation.
Angus Robertson was always going to be a shoe in.He spent years being groomed in Vienna for the job.Days spent on the radio and nights spent with the Embassy crowd.
But this is what happens when the grass roots don’t get involved and leave the running of the party to those that want to.
“You are just about to go on the record and say that the highest-ranking law enforcement officer in this country is a crook. Just be sure you’re right”
Ben Bradley (Washington Post, 1973)
A charge of sufficient gravity during the Watergate affair that if incorrect it could have brought down the Washington Post.
In Scotland, the fact that the Lord Advocate has admitted the malicious prosecution of 4+ innocent men barely interests the mainstream media.
There is something very seriously wrong.
A prequesite for a fully-functioning democracy is the separation of powers and especially between the executive and judiciary.
We clearly do not have that.
Are we as a nation ready for independence?
https://www.tns2019.org/new-blog-1/2021/1/26/an-absolute-fcking-omni-shambles
The expectation management from the snp so far has been appalling. The polls show a good performance but they could as easily lose 5percent or so or more. People are going on as if it’s a given they’ll win a majority. I don’t think it’s as clear cut. Election campaigns haven’t started. Losing a majority and less than 50perfent of votes between it and the greens would put indy back a generation.
TNS2019 says:
27 January, 2021 at 7:17 am
Are we as a nation ready for independence?
I think that’s the wrong question TNS2019.
Put crudely, Scotland only has half a government, no Scottish support infrastructure or internal security services, and in many cases, career advancement across the whole spectrum largely dependent upon Unionist sympathies, and the mainstream Scottish media is awash with Unionist indoctrination. Our economy has just suffered a withering body blow as a direct consequence of our unconstitutional subjugation by another Nation.
Is Scotland ready for Independence? I say yes. Pick up the ball and run with it, and deal with our deficiencies as and when we need to. Lesser nations than Scotland have done it. Deal with their own teething troubles but then gone on to thrive with far fewer resources than Scotland has.
Don’t forget, all of these frailties and glaring omissions in our civic society have arisen as a direct consequence of Scotland NOT being Independent.
For every initiative which tries to make Scotland a better or stronger entity, there’s a jealous counter initiative ready to rubbish that Scottish initiative and undermine it. We’re not allowed to have progressive initiatives in Scotland, because that might raise Scotland’s self esteem and contribute to National unity and self belief, – something which the Union Establishment fears most. Scotland must despair at it’s status as a basket case nation, so that it’s people dare not look any further and begin to question their indoctrination.
Scotland will never become the mighty tree it is rightfully meant to become while it remains coppiced by Unionist exploitation.
Ready for Independence? Wrong question.
How long can Scotland endure without Independence? Correct question.
Ross says:
27 January, 2021 at 7:50 am
…Losing a majority and less than 50perfent of votes between it and the greens would put indy back a generation.
Tell that to the SNP. They’re ones flying kamikaze.
@Breeks – The breakdown of civic Scotland has happened during the past 10-years and has accelerated under Nicola Sturgeon. We have more civil-servants and law officers per head of population than almost any other country in the world. The problem is they have become crooked. Even our newspapers and unions have become crooked…..or ‘politically expedient’ are the words used nowadays.
If the newspapers of another country are threatening to expose this, then you know we have problems.
An exorcism of Sturgeon and Wolffe are required now. Nothing else works I’m afraid.
Breeks
I understand your position but from personal experience am not willing to make that leap of faith, partly because I am not prepared to invest my future or that of my children in a corrupt establishment, but primarily because I do not yet know what type of nation we are aspiring to.
Surely we must place justice at the heart of what we are aiming for, rather than regarding it as a constituional nicety? We already have the power to reform what is a failing system. We do not require independence for that.
https://www.tns2019.org/new-blog-1/2021/1/27/the-question-that-requires-no-answer
Watching the morning news where I’m advised that a 3rd
of U.K. Children are living below the breadline.
Half a million do not have access to remote learning nearly a year after the first lockdown.
We still don’t have a Track & Trace System that is anything more than a scam to pass tax payers
money to inner sanctum Tories.
There is a great play of sorrow and regret among the usual we are working hard
we are in unprecedented times but the bottom line is Westminster has delivered the
worst Covid death rates on the planet.
Yes worse that the poorest nations on earth, worse than banana republic dictatorships
but this yet again is not the time to assess any mistakes made?
The 20,000 excess deaths not in their horrific and shameful 100,000 Covid death tally
are buried in more than one way..
Confused and U turn guidance pools out like a broken dam.
Millions of jobs lost through Covid and Brexit, the economy trashed, civil liberties removed
and Boris says he is sorry.
Perhaps Hitler killed himself needlessly as he could have just said he was sorry!
There is very little trace of decency or morality in the Tory party as the money gleaned for their
rich supporters soothes any pains that rise.
No admissions of incompetence or offer of resignations, no sign of learning by mistakes.
Can you take heart that the main player in all this is breaking the travel guidelines and coming to
Scotland to tell us how lucky we are to have him and his party ruling over us without a mandate?
Captain Yossarian
“We have more civil-servants and law officers”
Yep, there seem to be hundreds of these folks dealing with ferries and look where that got us? I expect the SG’s hundreds of lawyers and law officers also have a big hand in ‘creating’ all those oppressive and unnecessary laws we have seen over the past years, which daeless MSP’s then vote through.
A second chamber of more mature thinkers might be helpful in preventing some of that nonsense.
But maybe Scotland also needs something more. Something like ‘The Corruption Eradication Commission’ (KPK) in Jakarta might be the model to look at. And ‘The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG)’ also does some interesting work, e.g.: “A court in Guatemala has decided to send 20 people involved in a corruption case into preventive detention, including the retired lieutenant colonel and ex-Interior Minister Mauricio Lopez Bonilla..”
It doesn’t seem to help when the chief prosecutor is part of the ruling government, which seems to have been the case in Scotland for the past several hundred years. That might explain a lot of things, not least Scotland’s high prison population relative to rest of Europe.
Yes – and the best parliamentarian ever to set foot inside Holyrood, Alex Salmond, was trying to lessen the influence of the other midget parliamentarians around him in our laws, Sturgeon and Swinney for example, and look at where that has gotten him.
Personally speaking, I think we should all be prepared to tell James Wolffe to feck-off, instantly. He is not wanted any longer.
@Hatuey 4:30 am
They want to be sure they’re not wanking blanks, but they are blank wankers…
But he said ‘whatsapp is not the platform that I use’ the first time, that surely clears the whole thing up, right?…
The entire Scottish Welfare Fund Budget for 20020/21 is 57.6 million.
The Scottish Government has spent a similar amount trying to get and cover up their attempt to get Alex Salmond.
@Livionian – If a judge was heading this inquiry instead of old Jackie and Linda, he would have asked ‘Is it a platform you have EVER used’.
That would have been it over inside a minute. Waiting on these two old duffers the way we are will take us months to sort this out.
What amuses me is that everyone thinks that Jackie’s doing well. Better than the others perhaps, but still crap.
Slightly O/T can I just wish good luck to Craig Murray today. I sincerely hope that the folly of these charges are recognised as they were with Mark Hirst.
@carzycat. Thanks very much for that info. Very useful.
@Paul, re GG the hat. As I said, I think he’s a spiv. But even a broken clock is right twice a day (unless it’s digital) and he’s about to use his oratory skills to flag up just how bonkers the woke agenda is. And people will agree.
His wee woke rant about 99 different genders got 50,000 viewers in 4 hours.
Well done folks, Craig Murray’s legal fund has reached its target overnight.
Contributors from all over the world.
Judges really don’t like being pressurised to twist things when they are in the spotlight, they are highly aware that their verdict will be fully scrutinised, and it’s their reputation which then takes a kicking.
Also Lady Dorian has a very good reputation.
Very best of luck Craig, thoughts are with you.
I cannot afford to phone in for the trial, though I would have liked to be there, and would have travelled to Edinburgh for the court if it had been held there. Be happy to speak up to that fact if needed… as the old legal precedent goes, it is not enough for justice to be done, it must be seen to be done.
I guess we were naïve to think that corruption rife in the British State would not affect us, especially as it is happening in plain sight and little reported. What an opportunity for the British State to shine a forensic searchlight on Scotland and take the moral high ground that we are not capable of running our own affairs.
Yet anther front opens up in the fight for independence. This time from within.
I see the Italian PM has resigned to effect necessary change. That is what true leaders do. We no longer have a need for a Firefighter leader who has been in power so long that she now starts her own fires.
O/t but has anyone else come across the “ListVoteSense” posts telling us why we should go for “both votes SNP”?
TNS2019 says:
27 January, 2021 at 8:33 am
…. I am not prepared to invest my future or that of my children in a corrupt establishment…
Well thanks to Sturgeon, Scotland currently has two corrupt establishments to choose from. Time will tell, but I rather suspect we have the corruption of the first being responsible for the corruption of the second…
We already have the power to reform what is a failing system. We do not require independence for that.
Err, no we absolutely don’t. In case you weren’t paying attention, Scotland just had it’s Sovereign Constitution and an emphatic Democratic mandate from it’s sovereign population overruled by Westminster, and their puppet Assembly in Holyrood just waved through our unconstitutional subjugation.
The “system” which is in such dire need of reform is the product of Unionism and Westminster rule, and only Independence, and an end to the corrupt Treaty of Union, will allow Scotland to reform properly under a Scottish Government which answers to the Scottish Constitution and sovereignty of the people.
As yet, we have no such government.
Aye, and good luck to Craig Murray too…
As with so much to do with kafkaesque official Scotland these days, the best response is get off our backs you serial liars.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/19041644.covid-scotland-live-grim-warning-expert-predicts-50-000-uk-deaths/
Stuff your fear, your dodgy experts and the whole sinister machinery that pulls your strings.
The Dutch and the Israelis have the right answer….
Captain Y @8.52
It is clear James Wolfe needs to be shown the door pronto.
Anyone know how that can be done? I assume his role in the cabinet is by appointment. Did the Law Society have any influence in any way?
If it turns out that he’s entirely Nikla’s ‘creature’ does that mean only she can sack him? Not holding my breath.
Any ideas?
Hmm…
https://theorkneynews.scot/2021/01/27/maree-todd-msp-unveiling-a-roadmap-to-a-referendum/
“To that end a national campaign of information and education on independence, hopefully within the context of a renewed and widely based Yes campaign.”
WTF! (My bolding) I guess those in the “old” YES campaign are past oor sell by date and to be delivered to Graphlad’s dug food factory. 🙁
Meanwhile…Gold Standard…
https://twitter.com/ruth_wishart/status/1354351584583569408
Good luck to Craig today. I remember when it was ONLY liars who went on trial for contempt of court.
@ Wee Chid
https://twitter.com/Jeggit/status/1317213919656710145
Breeks – Law is devolved. It always has been. Scotland can do whatever it likes and Westminster has nothing to do with it.
The law is being used currently, ie today with Craig Murray, against the public. That is a worrying portent of where Holyrood is taking us.
Does this happen anywhere else in the developed world?
BOB 10:02
The Union was conceived in corruption. Scotland’s ‘representatives’ were classics of venality.
No use blaming it on the Brits. Takes two to make a deal.
The rot began at home and we continue to enjoy its fruits.
Scotland was, is and will continue to be an English colony until the old order is energetically challenged and kicked out.
No sign of that yet.
@Nelly Anders – In the old days of Joe Beltrami, politicians used to seek the advice of lawyers. They understood that law is the glue that binds societies together. They also understood that law was there to serve the public interest.
Under Sturgeon and Swinney, lawyers are told what to do and what outcomes to deliver by Swinney.
It doesn’t always work of course and it hasn’t worked this time has it.
James Wolffe has been appointed by Sturgeon alone and he will go along with her. According to James Wolffe, the public interest is served by disregarding law and keeping everything secret.
I don’t expect the Law Society do do anything. As long as their members get their £300/hour, that’s the main source of angst for them.
o/t
Echoing what others have said best of luck to Craig in his vindictive prosecution this morning
A bit late but does anyone have access to the exact wording of the charge levelled against Craig Murray ? .
I wanted to listen into the proceedings but after reading line after line of dire warnings about commenting on or passing on any information I declined the offer.
What happened to Justice has to be done and has to be seen to be done why the bloody stupid restrictions and restraints is it all a big security risk and would have wide ranging consequences to the security of everyone in the country,
Lawyers and the legal fraternity need dropped in a deep hole and covered in concrete along with their unfathomable legalese shite that baffles normal people .
Thanks Captain Y
Basically James Wolfe is owned by NS and there’s bugger all we can do about it.
It’s a situation ripe for the level of corruption that we’re seeing. Monumentally depressing.
Davie Oga @ 9:22
“The entire Scottish Welfare Fund Budget for 20020/21 is 57.6 million.”
That was also about the price of a ferry back in 2015. Now it’s nearly £150m. And still no sign of it sailing over any horizon.
Where is Derek Mackay, by the way? Another of Nicola’s ‘elite’.
Is it any wonder these folk cannae deliver independence, far less get a conspiracy right, or even a ferry?
Who is the real Nicola Sturgeon? Why did she become leader of the SNP so easily without any real scrutiny? What is her real agenda for Scotland and its people? These are question we all need to ask ourselves and when we do we should all be worried for our citizens and for our country, because of what has transpired in the last six years. Is it now too late to actually do something about it?
Who’s paying for Peter Murrell’s legal advice because it shouldn’t be the SNP membership.
100%yes
Agree with all of that.
And indeed who and what is Nicola Sturgeon.
If we ever get to a time when we are drawing up a constitution for an independent Scotland then we really need to remember this episode and make sure we restrict the power of any part of the government and put scrutiny and checks and balances in place in a way that prevents it, or anything like it, from happening again.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Esu4LThXEAAqACx?format=jpg&name=large
Don’t know if that will work sorry. HCB
Something I suppose
Dan says:
27 January, 2021 at 10:16 am
Thanks. I was a bit suspicious when I looked at the “about” tab and there was nothing.
Captain Yossarian says:
27 January, 2021 at 10:17 am
Breeks – Law is devolved. It always has been. Scotland can do whatever it likes and Westminster has nothing to do with it.
Law isn’t actually devolved, it’s ring fenced by the Treaty of Union, but like every other facet of Scottish Society, to get on, you had to fit in with ruling ‘elite’. You don’t come across many Independentists in the huntin’ shootin’ and fishin’ brigade.
I would also argue that Scotland’s legal community has been might lax in looking after Scotland’s Constitutional integrity for decades. Or more correctly, I think the colonial encroachment of Scotland’s rights has accelerated greatly since Devolution, to the extent I truly wonder whether that was Westminster’s objective in setting up Devolution, but Scotland’s legal community has not kept pace with that acceleration.
Too many of the Constitutional Articles you read are now decades old. The essential principles haven’t changed, but the quality of debate has nosedived, and as I say, Colonial encroachment hardly raises an eyebrow.
Just look at the outcry there has been over Scotland’s unconstitutional subjugation… Aye. Not a bloody word.
Joanna Cherry secured remarkable Constitutional bullseyes twice, yet what was ever built from those platforms? Nothing.
Then there was Megrahi….
Breeks says:
27 January, 2021 at 11:54 am
Then there was Megrahi…
First he was…
The rest of us will be requested to form an orderly,socially distanced, queue.
. Is it now too late to actually do something about it?
No
4 men took on the Lord Advocate and the whole of the Scottish establishment and won.
Mark Hirst won.
We hope that Craig Murray will also win.
That is heartening. The embers of justice are still glowing.
The problem for many of us is in accessing justice.
But we are very, very, determined.
The residual issue should be, “Why do we have to fight the establishment in the first place. Should it not be on our side?”
https://www.tns2019.org/new-blog-1/2021/1/27/the-question-that-requires-no-answer
TNS2019. In that link.” In the rangers case,no one yet knows why that prosecution took place. Was it an attempt to rid the Scottish landscape of an unashamedly pro-union football club?. Kick them while they are down and eradicate one source of hostility towards independence?”.
Why on earth would a unionist establishment do that?
Thats the fire that keeps the pot boiling.
Breeks
“to get on, you had to fit in with ruling ‘elite’. You don’t come across many Independentists in the huntin’ shootin’ and fishin’ brigade.”
Indeed, and our friend Fanon refers to this phenomenon as “a depersonalized self” or “colonial self” where the objective (primarily of the bourgeoisie) under colonialism is “to be an imitation of the coloniser”. This imitation includes culture and language as well as other features and behaviours which may also reflect internalised racism.
We therefore have a major cultural problem in a colonial Scotland which inevitably results in an oppressive establishment (for certain groups), much as we can see. The saddest thing is not many people appear to have noticed this until now!
Alf
We have a bigger problem…
Those who, where the SNP Government are concerned, are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.
I’ve asked elsewhere just how low does the SNP Government, and particularly the SNP Leadership, have to go before people withhold their vote? I didn’t get an answer.
Despite the Salmond stitch-up and the ongoing obfuscation and obstruction, the Woke infestation and the monstering, the pile-ons on social media, etc., on those who dare oppose them, and the silence from the FM where such behaviour is concerned, the missing IndyRef2 campaign funds, the legal costs of certain individuals being possibly taken from party funds, the Neverendum on the referendum, the disdain which our elected officials treat party members/constituents, the Brexit surrender, the insistence on a S30, don’t get me started on education, ferries, etc. etc.
These are meant to be the ‘good guys’, the one’s on ‘our side’, the team that goes into bat for us.
They’re anything but – yet people still want to give them their vote!
I can’t remember a time I didn’t want an Independent Scotland, and I’ve got over half a century under my belt, (or hanging over it…), yet I can’t see it anytime soon with the current set up.
Depressing really.
“Where is Derek Mackay, by the way? Another of Nicola’s ‘elite’.”
Don’t you mean Another of Nicola’s ‘Effete’ @ Alf Baird says at 10:47 am
Captain Yossarian says:
26 January, 2021 at 8:52 pm
@robertknight – are you saying the Peter Murrell is the Scottish version of OJ Simpson?……God help us.
If the Glove fits…or maybe doesn’t..
robertknight
It is depressing, though also revealing, what is happening. Our elites have aye mimicked the coloniser, in aw weys an mair. As Cesaire informs us, colonisation results in both class inequalities AND racism, the latter also becoming internalised.
So there are multiple forms of oppression in play, but as you say, some people still trust in their oppressor (Stockholm Syndrome, which might also be related to a ‘colonial mindset’). Colonialism does involve the brainwashing of people, which appears to have been very effective in Scotland.
However, change if it comes is likely to come fast.
The only real hope at the moment is a plebiscite election on independence, as now looks to be included in the manifesto’s of Solidarity and ISP. Ideally an SNP under new leadership should do the same. Whether it will remains to be seen. The SNP elite don’t want to upset our oppressors, after all.
Davie Oga says:
27 January, 2021 at 9:22 am
The entire Scottish Welfare Fund Budget for 20020/21 is 57.6 million.
The Scottish Government has spent a similar amount trying to get and cover up their attempt..[against Alex Salmond]
That is an extraordinarily high figure, so may I invite you to cite any evidence you have to substantiate it?
I’ll also point out that the year 20020 lies 17,999 years in the future, just shy of 18 millenia ahead. Prescient or premature of Scotgov to budget so far in advance!
Alternatively maybe you should type more carefully when giving figures.
“And 33% seems very very low. What was that Jo Stalin quote again, its not who votes that count, its who counts the votes…”. No that was Joe Biden.
Whats the membership fee and how does the declared income from these fees square with the claimed numbers.
I’m a member of the SNP living in Northern Ireland and I didn’t get a ballot paper
This question has been asked before here and maybe there is an article I can be pointed to but what intrigues me in all this is motive.
Normally looking for a motive is one of the first acts in a crime investigation but I’m not seeing it in all the brilliantly investigated reams written here about the Salmond ‘conspiracy’. Why go after him? What had he done to allegedly warrant such efforts to, well, send him to jail, and for a long time?
Great site btw, refreshing, detailed and powerful. Probably be my only post as have no horse in the independence race.